


The Only Solution Was To Stand And Fight

by gingertintedglasses



Series: Running Up That Hill [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mention of Panic Attacks, Mentions of memory loss, SO MUCH FLUFF, War Veteran Steve, civilian bucky, happy birthday bucky barnes, mention of PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-04 23:45:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12782235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingertintedglasses/pseuds/gingertintedglasses
Summary: Prompt: Please more of war vet steve and civilian bucky.  Happy Birthday Bucky Barnes





	The Only Solution Was To Stand And Fight

It wasn’t the physical therapy that was the most frustrating. (Not that it wasn’t at all.  Steve could do it.  He could _do_ those things they were asking him to do.  His brain knew them and his body knew them but it was like running through waist-high water to relay the messages: slow and heavy and _exhausting_ and Steve could _do it_ ).

It wasn’t the physical therapy that was the most frustrating.  It was the other things. The things he woke in the night in a cold sweat over: shivering and nauseous and heart sick. The things he didn’t remember that plagued him anyway.  

It was Bucky’s birthday today and Steve was nearly six months out of the hospital and onto his long road to what his doctors were calling his New Normal (Steve hated the implications.  He nodded and smiled every time they said it anyway.)

So he got up extra early and made his way to the kitchen.  It only took him ten minutes to get from the bedroom, down the stairs (using the railing) and into the kitchen.  He was going to make Bucky breakfast.  Bucky, who’d been by his side the whole time, as his cheerleader and shoulder to cry on and (more than a couple times, Steve was ashamed to say) the outlet for the frustrations Steve couldn’t keep locked behind his teeth.

He was going to make Bucky breakfast for his birthday.  

*** 

Bucky woke to an empty bed.  That wasn’t unusual.  Steve –he didn’t remember.  He’d lost a month, maybe two, of memory in the Incident (Bucky couldn’t bring himself to call it anything else.  It made his stomach twist to think of those weeks, when he first learned Steve was MIA and then all the time in the hospital.  He felt cowardly for it, sometimes, to feel so nauseous about it when Steve had had to _live_ it).  

It didn’t seem to matter that Steve couldn’t remember what happened, or even the time leading up to it.  He had night terrors and vague flashbacks of something he couldn’t name that sent him into a panic attack nonetheless.  

The difference this time was that Bucky smelled coffee.  Swinging himself up out of bed, he pulled on a sweatshirt (one of Steve’s) and trudged downstairs with his nose shoved under the neckline (it always smelled like Steve no matter how many times Bucky washed it).

Coming around the corner into the kitchen, Bucky stopped short. Because there was Steve, seated at the table, with a whole breakfast laid out in front of him – eggs and coffee and bacon and a stack of pancakes.  

“Happy Birthday.”  Steve beamed. 

Bucky swallowed hard and made his way over to Steve with tears in his eyes.  “You made me breakfast.”

Steve stretched up to return Bucky’s hug as best he could.  “I thought it would be a nice surprise.  I mean, I have a gift, too,” he gestured towards a small package on the counter, “but I wanted to make you breakfast, too.”

Bucky leaned in to give Steve a lingering kiss, morning breath be damned.  “Thank you. This is amazing.   _You’re_ amazing.”

Steve tugged Bucky down into the empty chair next to him.  “So’re you, you know.  You haven’t – all this time, everything that’s changed, and you’re right there no matter what.  You deserve this – more than this.”

Bucky tilted his head to wipe an eye (he was only crying a _little_ ) and he saw- “Are those blueberry chocolate chip pancakes?”

“Like I said, you deserve everything.”

Bucky reeled Steve in for another kiss.  “I’ve got you.  That’s more than enough for me.”

Steve could barely kiss him back, through his smile. “Happy Birthday, Bucky.”


End file.
